John C. Dvorak writes that Microsoft should dump IE and leave the broswer market (via). Wow, that’s a bold statement, but it makes sense. His argument is that IE costs Microsoft billions and it’s never made them a cent. I have to say that taking IE off the web would be a huge shake-up, but the more that I think about it, the more that I think it would be a shake-up for the better.

So, how long until MS ditches IE? How much better would Windows be without it?

Saying surfing the web is equivalent to reading a newspaper or talking on the phone, an administrative law judge has suggested that only a reprimand is appropriate as punishment for a city worker accused of failing to heed warnings to stay off the Internet.

Finally, some sense can be seen when it comes to using the Internet at work (full article). Whenever a company says something about my surfing habits, I always think (something unpleseant). Never once have I thought, oh, maybe they’re right and I should cut down on my internet traffic. Let’s face it, providing employees with internet access might as well be a given. I consider it a perk that’s equivalent to vacation time. Maybe I’ll have that written into my next job offer.

To cut to the chase, if you don’t want to provide employees with Internet access, don’t hire them. I wonder how far a company can go without employees?

I’ve been discussing SEO at length with my buddy Blake (See SEO is Dead and Link Building is not SEO). He directed me to a book on SEO by Aaron Matthew Wall, but I’m not going to link to it out of spite (the author is obsessed enough about Google ranking as it is).

One section of the book caught my attention: “Web = Cheap Marketing”. I realized that this is how many companies and people view their website.

If you view your website as cheap marketing, you’re missing the boat, the picture, and anything else worth not missing. A website should be so much more than marketing. Not too long ago, I would tell people that websites are going to be like phone numbers are today. You can’t imagine a business (small and local or otherwise) without a telephone, could you?

Well, now I think that scope is too limited. A website is more important than having a phone number, at least for many it is now and it will soon be that way for everyone. I would go so far to compare an organization’s website to their physical presence (storefront, office space, person, etc). It’s that important. In fact, the only time that I can think of an organization getting away without a physical presence is when they exist completely on the web.

So, what should a website be? Everything. It’s a communication tool and an information hub. If it has anything to do with your organization, it should be on your website.

But look at how most organizations go about getting a website. Either they will a) hire a webmaster (sometimes two to three people for bigger organizations) or b) they outsource it and let someone else build it. Both of these approaches are fundamentally flawed.

When building or obtaining a website there are two parts to be considered. The first is the website structure. Think of it as a canteen. Now, the second part is the content. Think of the content as the water that goes in the canteen. In the movies, when the canteen is empty, it always gets thrown off into the desert sand. Your website is about as useful as an empty canteen when it lacks content. Of course, if you have really great content but your website structure (the canteen) is full of holes, then you aren’t really that well off.

The big fallacy that organizations make is to pour resources into the website structure and spend nothing on content. Most think that either the webmaster can come up with content or that it will come from existing employees. Either way, the lack of focus on content is a major problem.

At the very least, after the website structure has been built and filled with initial content, organizations should have a webmaster (someone to make sure the canteen doesn’t have holes in it) and a content manager. What does the content manager do? Well, they don’t create water (content), that’s for sure. They find sources for it and then purify it. The content should come from everyone in your organization. They should be encouraged to submit content, even rewarded for it, but there needs to be that person to act as editor for it, giving it a unified voice, optimizing it, and making sure it stays on topic.

Also remember, that like the canteen, if you fill your website with content only once, it will soon be an empty shell once it has been drained dry. You need to constantly find new sources of content and replenish your supply. The content of your website should always be growing, evolving, and updating.

Ah, but you say, I sell a traditional product that doesn’t change. What new content could I possibly add? Well, take a cue from duct tape. Duct tape has got to be the most stable, unchanging product out there, but I’ve been seeing a lot of interesting, new content for duct tape that certainly has caught a lot of eyes.

Find out what Google has to say about my son Jack.

When I said SEO is dead, the general response that I got was “I’ll keep doing it because it still works.” And frankly, I was baffled. SEO doesn’t really work, at least, by itself it does very little.

I think I found the answer. Many people are incorrectly considering Link Building as SEO. Let’s get some basic definitions:

Link Building

The process of getting other websites to link to your website.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

the process of making changes to a website’s content in order to improve ranking within search engines usually for specific keywords

Content Optimization

The process of making changes to a website’s content to improve the usablity, understanding, and accessibility of that content

Link Building is not SEO. It’s not Content Optimization either. It’s good, old-fashioned marketing. Ironically, it’s the reason why SEO is dead because Link Building has a far greater impact on search engines than SEO or keyword stuffing ever will.

If you took a content-rich, well optimized site that had zero links to it, it would never enter into any search engine. How could it? Search engines wouldn’t even be able to find it, and if they did and added it to their index, the website would cease to be a linkless website. Furthermore, if you take a blank page (no content on it whatsoever) and get a million websites to prominently link to it, whether or not it lists in search engines (it probably would do very well), it will have plenty of traffic simply because it was well marketed.

Finally, here’s the reason why SEO is dead. If you take a website and apply SEO to it, it may have a small impact on search engines, but it will not effect others’ ability to link to it. So, SEO does not help with Link Building which does have the greatest impact on search engines. Now, conversely, if you took a website and applied Content Optimization, it would likely have the same or similar effect as SEO but it would also help to make that content more accessible and usable to those who would link to it. Thus, Content Optimization helps Link Building which helps with search engines. Errr…. Something like that.

Here’s a great tutorial for making a ninja mask out of a t-shirt. I remember doing this as a kid, but this method has several enhancements of my childhood method.

Thanks J.R.!

It’s good to know that our goverment is protecting us so well.

From Boing Boing:

Agents from the US bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm agents detained a “suspicious individual” on a Georgia college campus — a guy dressed up in a ninja costume, on his way to a pirate vs. ninja party on campus.

First, I have to say that something like this would never have happened to a pirate.

RedandBlack.com quotes the guy:

“It was surreal,” Ransom said. “I was jogging from Wesley to Snelling when I heard someone yell ‘freeze.’” Ransom said he thought a friend was playing a joke before he realized officers had guns drawn and pointed at him.

Is our country going to hell in a hand basket because of right-wing fundamentalists or what? The agents later released the would be ninja once they realized that he hadn’t broken any laws.

There’s so many good quotes here like:

“Seeing someone with something across the face, from a federal standpoint — that’s not right,” McLemore said, explaining why agents believed something to be amiss.

This guy started off with one red paperclip and has been selectively trading it up until he gets a house. He’s just traded up to one year’s free rent in Phoenix with roundtrip US airfare tickets. Unbelievable! I love the power of the Internet and some ingenuity.

Google Calendar is finally live. My life is getting organized, google style.

I had a friend recently write asking why Google wasn’t more into his stuff even after he performed a slew of SEO tricks, and so I did a little thinking. I concluded that SEO is dead. He shouldn’t be worried about getting Google interested in his stuff. Google is just trying to reflect the opinion of the masses. He should be trying to get people interested in his content. Start with people you know, then expand to others.

That’s when I decided that SEO is so Web 1.0. In it’s place is a new form of optimization I like to call Content Optimization. That’s Web 2.0. It’s about taking your content (in any media) and optimizing it so it reaches the largest audience of any type, whether it’s bloggers, the press, normal people, or even search engines.

Here’s three rules for Content Optimization on the web:

1. People still buy paper-based books
   But why? The paper-based book has to be one of the least optimized forms of content. It has no markup. It’s not accesible no matter what browser you use, and you even have to go out of your way to a specialized store to pick it up. The answer is simple. People buy books because the content is worthwhile. They’re interested in it enought to out and get it. So, that’s the first place to start. Look at the content you’re producing. Make it better. Try to match it up with people who may be interested. Start with family and friends. You can pressure them more easily.
2. Markup like a Texas cowboy, quick and to the point
   The less the better, but like vegetables you need a good variety of the right stuff: H1, H2, H3, STRONG, EM, A, P, UL, OL, and so forth. Markup should help describe your content and as quickly as possible. These tags do. Avoid TABLE, TR, TD, tags. Those are used for raw tabular data. Think Geology and Calculus. Think sleeping students. Think boring your visitors away.
3. Cut out the fat
   Take a look at your website and try to find anything that could not be there. Now get rid of it. Anything that might serve a purpose probably doesn’t. The less, the better. The less, the more important the things that stay are. Everyone strives for an impressive website. Think about this, the more your website impresses, the less time your audience has to see your content. Would you rather your audience read about your engagement or stare at floating circle navigation buttons and a spinning logo/header? There’s a reason whey so many big sites look like shit, because it doesn’t matter and may even be better. Do more people shop at that fancy boutique down the street or Wal-mart?

So, Eric, don’t worry about Google. It’s like the popular kids at school who go where everyone else is going. Instead engage people like me into a conversation and get them to look at your site and link to it. Hey, everyone, check out Eric Veren’s website. He wants to know what you think. Did you know that he got engaged? He’s also a big Auburn Footbal fan. See that’s easy.

These kids made a mean lightsaber fight that brought a smile to my face.

What’s up with vacation time? I’d gladly take a pay cut for an extra week of vacation, but I’ve never been given the offer. In fact, I think vacation time at every job I’ve had completely sucks. Two weeks doesn’t cut it. Three weeks is a little better, but not when you don’t have any sick time.

I honestly think Congress should mandate 4 weeks of vacation for all full-time employees. Anything less than that is just plain sick.

I just calculated how much it would cost my company to give me an extra two weeks off, and it’s not very much at all.

Everyone’s been making a fuss about 01:02:03 on 04/05/06, I missed the first one, luckily the same time comes again in the afternoon.

Here’s a great repository for all things shoelace tying (via). I’m a firm believer in a good secure shoelace knot like the Ian’s Secure Shoelace Knot.

My mother called last night for computer advice while I was in the middle of something, and I was short with her. Sorry, Mother.

It turns out that I must have been trying to make it a trend, because not too much later, I was rude to my wife Cindy. I’m sorry Cindy.

Now, I just have to find a way to make it up to them.